The Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department (CMPD) has launched the online registration portal for its new Rental Registration Program, which took effect January 1 with the requirement that all rental properties in the City be registered no later than June 30.

The online registration tool, which was developed with input from REBIC, allows property owners to conveniently register multiple properties under the same name and designate additional contacts, such as a property management firm, if they so desire. Properties are registered by street address, not by unit — so corner duplexes with more than one address should be registered separately, while apartment complexes with multiple units will be registered once.

There is NO cost to register, but an administrative fee will be charged if a property crosses CMPD’s Disorder Risk Threshold, as defined in the Rental Registration Ordinance.

Regardless of whether they use a property manager, all owners are required to provide their own address (NOT a P.O. Box) and a contact phone number when they register each of their properties. In the event CMPD needs to contact someone regarding criminal activity on the property, they will first attempt to reach the owner, and the owner would then have to contact their property manager if they prefer for them to handle the situation.

In the event that a property is sold, the owner will have to contact CMPD to change the status of the registration. To ensure that owners are regularly reminded of the registration requirement, REBIC requested that CMPD send out a bulletin to all owners on at least an annual basis.

For property owners, the benefit of online registration is the ability to receive regular e-mail notifications about any crime or disorder activity on their properties, on a daily, weekly, monthly or quarterly basis. This addresses one of the key concerns that REBIC and our partner organizations had regarding the Rental Registration program.

In addition to the online registration, CMPD will soon have hard copies of the registration form available at its precincts and possibly at local libraries as well. We’ll post a link to the form on this Blog as soon as it’s available.

REBIC and our partner organizations have worked with the department over the past year to ensure its provisions are as reasonable as possible. While we still believe rental registration programs are a violation of private property rights, we commend CMPD Chief Rodney Monroe and his staff for their willingness to address our most critical concerns.

If you encounter any difficulties with the registration process, please e-mail me at Joe.Padilla@REBIC.com, and we’ll work with CMPD to get it addressed.